Author(s)

BingQing Xiao

Affiliation(s)

School of Music and Recording Arts, Communication University of China, Beijing 100024, China.

Corresponding Author

BingQing Xiao

ABSTRACT

Embodied music cognition research has long focused on voluntary bodily movement’s role in music perception, yet passive motion’s impact remains underexplored. This study examined how linear passive motion across three translational degrees of freedom (Z/X/Y axes) modulates melodic interval perception via a 6-DOF motion platform, with 39 normal-hearing participants completing perception tasks under static and motion conditions. Independent-samples t-tests and cent-based quantitative analysis revealed significant perceptual differences between the two conditions (p<0.05), with vertical (Z-axis) motion inducing more pronounced effects. Ascending intervals were perceived as expanded, descending ones contracted, and larger intervals showed greater perceptual changes; pitch register had no significant effect. Platform motion direction interacted systematically with interval direction, amplifying expansion-contraction contrasts in specific directions. These findings validate embodied cognition, proving passive bodily motion actively shapes melodic interval perception and enriching the theoretical framework of embodied music cognition.

KEYWORDS

Embodied music cognition; Passive linear motion; Melodic interval perception

CITE THIS PAPER

BingQing Xiao. Bodily motion as a perceptual modulator: how passive linear movement shapes melodic interval judgments. Journal of Trends in Arts and Humanities. 2026, 3(1): 7-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/jtah3053.

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